Apophis

It is Windows 10 LTSC 2021 Version 21H2.
Interesting, but if msix is unpacked with 7zip, Designer can be started directly from the exe, and it seems to work normally.
For what exact reason would it not work?

I appear to have signed in with the wrong email address.  I am not a new member.  I've been a user of V1 since 2016.  I really need an msi installation file for V2.  This WindowsApp thing is a disaster.

I totally agree that there should be an .EXE or .MSI version. The .MSIX version installed fine on my system, but the problem I have is that other programs can not call up an instance of Affinity. For example, in my workflow I use ACDSee to manage my photos, and love using Affinity Photo to edit the photos. Unfortunately I can no longer link directly to the Affinity Photo 2 app through the "External Editor" function as there is no .EXE app on my computer. It basically makes the program mostly unusable for me.

Please offer .EXE or .MSI (or an install free) version of Affinity photo V2.
MSIX does not even run out-of-the-box on (my) Windows system, (and yes I do run the latest updates offered, but I should never have to put an disclaimer like this in the first place) there shouldn't be any fuss when installing any software bought for an explicit OS. Why would anyone need to Google how to install software and find out they have to install other software or tweak their OS, just to be able to install bought software? Before this purchase I have never heard of, or encountered the .MSIX format and my Windows machine does not know what to do with it either.
Why be an 'early adapter', WITHOUT OFFERING AN BACKUP ALTERNATIVE, while the OS developer itself doesn't even have their groundwork done for it yet?
I, and as I suspect many others, only find out this after buying, while on the forums it shows you were informed of problems, yet you did not offer this information CLEARLY before you sold the software, please fix this: it costs you your reputation and it will confuse first time buyers which may never come back.
Please don't try to be ahead of the herd, your paying customers are not guinea pigs: most (if not all) expect to buy, install and launch without any hick ups.
Experiment what you want with beta's, but please don't fix what isn't broken: stability and reliability should have priority!
I did not upgrade from V1 to V2 to figure out how to solve a problem that didn't exist before I bought the upgrade: you've should at least have warned us before buying that you've decided to go down an experimental path.
Thank you for your products and services, these are appreciated, but please don't experiment with paying customers without a heads-up and their consent, thank you.

I have removed the MS spyware store from my system. To install, upgrade, or uninstall an "app", I have to reboot into safe mode, enable those services, rename several directories, reboot again, install/uninstall/upgrade, then reboot into safe mode again to disable the spyware, then reboot again.
By using the MS spyware store, your product now has dependencies stretching into every tiny corner of the Windows system. If one little firewall or antivirus or update service isn't running, the install (or upgrade or uninstall) will fail. It is insane that I had to troubleshoot a firewall to install a photo editor. This is like if I had to mow my lawn to change the oil in a car.

I agree!
These features are ESSENTIAL to completely escape from the grip Adobe has on us.
Apophis

I'm currently test driving all of the Affinity products in hopes of leaving Adobe's Creative Cloud, but am coming up just a little short on some key tool necessities. The biggest hole I can see is the ability to distort or free transform vector nodes, whole objects or outlined text (curves). 
This is a tutorial on creating 'curved' text using 'free transform' tools in Illustrator from 2000:
http://www.balloontales.com/curved-type/
Or selective scaling when nodes are selected. Here's an example of the function; keep in mind this isn't about WHAT is being created, it's the 'how'.
http://www.balloontales.com/tv-shape-balloon/
Just added functionality to node/vector manipulation and I can then say goodbye to Adobe Illustrator. If these functions already exist, can someone point the way to any related tutorials?
Thanks! Good stuff so far; just need a few more tools to be GREAT stuff.
G.